Weekly News Round-Up: Muse, Pete Doherty and more

Wondering if you’ve missed out on any of the week’s top news stories? Well wonder no longer – here Live4ever looks back on ten of the biggest headlines we featured during the last seven days in British music.

Muse (Photo: Paul Bachmann for Live4ever Media)

Muse have joined Kendrick Lamar as a headline act for this year’s Benicassim Festival.

As they continue their high concept, lavishly produced world tour behind 2015’s ‘Drones‘ album, the band lead other new additions which include The Chemical Brothers, Disclosure, Massive Attack, The 1975, The Vaccines and Catfish & The Bottlemen.

Bastille have have offered an update on the progress of their follow-up to 2013’s commercial breakthrough ‘Bad Blood‘.

“I’ve heard lots of bands talking about making their difficult second album, but we never thought that far ahead,” the band’s Dan Smith says in a video posted to Facebook. “I guess until recently we haven’t had much time to think about.”

Noel Gallagher has revealed more on the sessions for his third solo album and the impact his still un-named producer (only to us, obviously) is having on the sessions.

Speaking to music.theaureview.com, Gallagher explained how for the first time he is writing exclusively in the studio with his new cohort, whom he is ‘bouncing ideas’ around with and has completed five songs.

It’s all up for grabs for Spring King in 2016, and having signed to Island Records they’ve now unveiled their first single on the label, ‘Rectifier’.

The track is out as a limited edition 7” on March 25th, and comes shortly after they confirmed a stint support Kaiser Chiefs on the Leeds band’s forestry tour a little later this year.

Noel Gallagher‘s week of UK festival headline announcements continued.

Gallagher and his High Flying Birds will top Festival No.6 in Portmeirion, Wales over the weekend of September 1st-4th, adding to the headline spots at Kendall Calling and Y Not which have also been confirmed during the last few days.

Pete Doherty onstage with The Libertines (Photo: Gary Mather for Live4ever Media)

Online stories have appeared suggesting Pete Doherty could release a second solo album at some point this year.

Doherty’s plans for a follow-up to 2009’s ‘Grace/Wastelands‘ go back almost as far, certainly to before The Libertines‘ more permanent return in 2014. Indeed, Doherty told NME just as that live comeback became public that he had been writing in Hamburg with producer Johann Scheerer.

The Cribs, The Kills and Ocean Colour Scene are new on the Isle Of Wight festival bill for 2016.

The event takes place at Seaclose Park between June 9th-12th, and has Queen, Stereophonics and Faithless lined up as headliners.

The main stage at Download will be renamed ‘The Lemmy Stage’ from this year in honour of the late Motorhead frontman.

Iron Maiden, Rammstein and Black Sabbath then are set to be its first headliners this coming June. Download Festival organiser Andy Copping has also said that ‘a suitable tribute’ is being planned for Lemmy.

Live4ever favourites Spring King and Pretty Vicious will be joining Wolf Alice when the band embark on their latest round of UK and Ireland tour dates in March.

Crows – who were a part of our Best Of…2015 countdown – have also been lined up as a support act, as have Swim Deep and Bloody Knees.

Damon Albarn will perform with the Syrian National Orchestra For Arabic Music and special guests to open Roskilde’s Orange Stage this year.

Albarn first performed with the SNO back in 2008, and will be at the Danish festival on Wednesday, June 29th. “This will be an extraordinary, fun, moving and unpredictable opening show,” Roskilde spokeswoman Christina Bilde says.

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